Dade’s Principals Gear Up For Aug. 7 First Day Of School

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

Ahead of this week’s first day of school, the Sentinel sat down with Dade County Schools’ four principals for an annual update. We talked about technology, attendance, parent engagement, new changes, and encouraging progress.

The three returning principals are joined this year by Rhonda Bradford (Dade Middle School principal). This is Bradford’s 22nd year working for Dade County Schools, and while she knows the new role will be a challenge, she’s eager and ready.

She chose to apply for the job because the great opportunity presented itself at the right time in her career. “I’ve always felt like you never know until you try,” she said. “Even though principals have less time directly with students than teachers do, we still have a direct impact, and that is important to me. We’re here to serve the students.”

As for her co-administrators, she said, “Being the new person coming in, I really do feel comfortable with each of my fellow principals. They have embraced me and answered my questions and helped provide guidance when I’ve needed and asked.”

During last year’s update, the principals spoke at length about the negative toll technology, social media, and video games are taking on students. This year, these are still areas where they hope to see improvements.

Melissa Valtierra (Dade Elementary School principal) explained that not all parents realize how much time their students spend on devices. Bradford added, “I think the public is just recently becoming aware of the negative effects.”

Brent Cooper (Dade County High School principal) said that he knows families who have a charging station where all devices stay overnight so kids (and adults) can’t stay up too late on screens. Charity Barton (Davis Elementary School principal) said that she’s even heard of families cutting off the internet at a set time in the evening.

All agreed that kids aren’t the only ones who face temptations and negative effects from too much screen time; it’s a challenge for us adults too.

Barton said that parents and grandparents have asked for more information about how to address the issue, so the schools plan to provide more helpful info. (One example of how they will do this is with Parent ProTech. See the accompanying school board meeting article for more details.)

Much like the conversations over this last year about attendance, the principals hope that the community as a whole—not just at school—can engage in helpful conversations about technology use.

The principals did see attendance improvements throughout the spring semester. They cite public information, conversations, and the schools’ reward systems as key factors in that improvement.

While it’s too early to see carryover from the attendance improvements to student learning and test scores, the principals are confident that learning will improve the more students are at school.

Cooper noted that although Google Classroom and other technological tools have improved, these cannot replace face-to-face time with a teacher and engaging with other students’ questions and answers.

As Barton said, “To turn out a paper to get a grade, sure, you can do that, but to store the knowledge long term, you need to understand it better.” She noted that Davis uses “turn and talk” time to get students thinking together and learning from one another. “Research shows that’s how students retain information.”

Valtierra added, “They learn better from their peers. Yes, teachers are the experts, but they learn better when their peers bring up something.”

When students miss school—excused or unexcused—they miss out on these key parts of learning. As Bradford said, “Missed seat time is still missed seat time, even when it’s an excused absence.” The school district has a new policy this year, limiting parent-excused absences to only three per semester instead of five.

Last year, the middle school and high school in particular sought more parent engagement and feedback, and that goal continues this year. The parent councils are a great way to get involved, and Cooper also hopes to host a parent engagement night each semester, saying, “It’s just good to get a parent’s perspective.”

However, the schools are very thankful for the parents who take the lead in fundraising for activities and chaperoning trips. Parents of elementary students tend to be more active in the schools and on campus, while middle and high school parents tend to volunteer more through fundraising efforts and chaperone roles.

One idea from the parent council that DMS implemented last year and is continuing this year is anonymous suggestion boxes in each grade’s hallway. Bradford said that the school received lots of comments from students through these boxes. “If something was going on, we got flooded with the concerns. We were able to get their unfiltered voices.”

As for other improvements, Barton reported that last year’s math gains were particularly encouraging. “The teachers really focused on approaching the conceptual piece of math. We’ll see a long-term gain from that because conceptual math is something they’ll use in middle school and high school. I’m really proud of what our math teachers did.”

Cooper is excited to start off DCHS’ fall semester with an awards day on the second day of school, covering all of last semester’s awards. “We get to start the year with a bang by recognizing all these kids that made honor roll, all these kids that are getting a gold card, etc.”

Valtierra is thankful for the community’s support of students through Kid’s Day on July 26. “It is not like that in every other community,” she said, noting the many community partners that made that day a success.

Meanwhile, Josh Ingle (superintendent) is glad that the principals will be presenting to the school board three or four times a year, instead of twice as has been the standard. The goal is for each presentation to be shorter but full of more data and impactful information.

Ingle said, “The board communicated to me that they don’t want a dog-and-pony show. Yes, they want to celebrate the good, but they also want the principals to communicate areas of opportunity so that when the principals come to them with a need, the board members can stand alongside them and say, ‘Yes, we support that need.’ It’s just being very transparent, honest, and vulnerable.”

The principals also highlighted a couple of practical details:

• As always, they encourage parents and guardians to complete the free and reduced lunch application (noting that reduced lunches are free right now).
• Also, they continue to ask parents and guardians to update their phone numbers through the Infinite Campus portal.
• Last year, extended days were new due to fewer student days in the calendar. Extended days are staying the same this year.
• The Davis traffic pattern will be returning to the pre-construction pattern. Barton said that although most parents preferred the temporary system, it blocked emergency exits, so they must return to the old pattern. She is also excited to at last be in the new Davis building.